In court papers, he is a physician who has pleaded not guilty. In newly unsealed records, he is described as a man who allegedly threatened his former wife, watched her house while she was away, and told others she would “always” belong to him. The gap between those two pictures now sits at the center of an Ohio double killing case.
The Allegations in Newly Unsealed Records
The most detailed public account of the case so far comes from a probable cause affidavit described in a Fox News Digital report. That report, which cites local coverage by WBNS-TV and investigative documents, outlines what investigators say they learned about Michael McKee before and after the deaths of his ex-wife, Monique Tepe, and her husband, dentist Dr. Spencer Tepe, at their Columbus home.
According to the affidavit as summarized in that reporting, surveillance video allegedly shows McKee entering the couple’s property on North 4th Street on a day in early December when Monique and Spencer were out of town at the Big Ten championship game in Indiana. Records state that McKee was seen on video entering the property and leaving a few hours later, while the couple was away.
The affidavit also reports what friends and family told detectives about McKee and Monique’s prior relationship. According to those statements, Monique described McKee as abusive during and after their marriage. One witness detailed allegations of strangulation and non-consensual sex. These are allegations in investigative documents, not findings from a completed trial.
Detectives wrote that McKee allegedly threatened Monique’s life. The documents state that he told her he could “kill her at any time” and that he vowed to follow her by purchasing a home next to hers, claiming “she will always be his wife.” These quoted phrases appear in the affidavit as described in the Fox News Digital report.
A December Trip and a Return to the Hotel
The same affidavit ties those alleged threats to Monique’s behavior on the trip to Indiana earlier in December. According to investigators, Monique and Spencer attended the Big Ten game with friends. During the second half, she left the stadium and returned to her hotel.
When detectives later asked Spencer’s friends why she had left, they said Spencer told them she was upset about “something involving her ex-husband and was going back to the hotel,” according to the affidavit quoted in the Fox News report. The documents do not specify precisely what upset her or whether she had any contact with McKee that day.
Later that month, Monique and Spencer were fatally shot inside their Columbus home. The newly unsealed records do not include a detailed second-by-second account of the shooting itself. Instead, they focus on McKee’s alleged presence at the property weeks earlier, the history of the prior marriage, and what witnesses say they heard Monique report about that relationship.
What Police Say About the Killings
Columbus police have publicly said they do not view the killings as random. According to the Fox News Digital account, investigators reported finding no signs of forced entry or robbery at the home, which suggests to them that the shooter likely had some link to the victims or access to the residence.
In an earlier interview with Fox News Digital, Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant directly tied the investigation to domestic violence, while emphasizing that detectives still lack a clear motive. “We know that this is her ex-husband, so it’s domestic violence-related. And as the trial moves on and charges come about, we will probably be able to get more answers. But, right now, we don’t have the answer as to a motive,” Bryant said, according to that report.
Prosecutors have charged McKee with four counts of aggravated murder and one count of aggravated burglary. Court records cited by Fox News Digital state that he has pleaded not guilty and is being held without bond at the James A. Karnes Corrections Center in Franklin County while the case moves forward.
Surgeon pleads not guilty to the killings of his ex-wife and her dentist husband in Ohio https://t.co/ufXN061w79 pic.twitter.com/kX6cBPv2tc
— Eyewitness News (@ABC7NY) January 24, 2026
The couple’s two young children were found physically unharmed at the home after the shooting, according to the same reporting. A relative told People magazine that the couple’s 1-year-old child was likely in a crib when the shooting occurred. Still, that interview is not included in the Fox News Digital summary of the affidavit excerpts.
The Prior Marriage and Divorce
Court documents reviewed by Fox News Digital show that Monique and McKee married in August 2015 and divorced after about seven months. At the time, McKee was completing his medical residency at the Virginia Tech Carilion Clinic. In her divorce filing, Monique wrote that the two were “incompatible.”
The probable cause affidavit, as described in the Fox report, suggests that whatever had gone wrong in that marriage did not end with the divorce. Friends and relatives told detectives that Monique continued to describe McKee as abusive. The allegations summarized in the affidavit include physical violence, sexual assault, and threats, all of which McKee will have the opportunity to contest in court.
McKee’s defense attorney, Diane Menashe, did not provide a comment to Fox News Digital at the time of that outlet’s story. Defense lawyers often decline to discuss active cases in detail outside the courtroom, in part because their primary task is to challenge the prosecution’s evidence before a judge and jury rather than in the press. McKee is legally presumed innocent, and a jury has not found any of the allegations in the affidavit to be true.
How This Fits Into a Larger Pattern
Law enforcement officials have described this as a domestic violence-related case that escalated into homicide. That framing aligns with patterns documented in national data, although those broad trends cannot, by themselves, establish what happened in any individual case.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that about one in four women and nearly one in ten men have experienced contact sexual violence, physical violence and stalking by an intimate partner and reported an impact such as injury, fear or concern for safety. Advocates and researchers have also noted that leaving or separating from an abusive partner can be a period of heightened risk, in part because it may challenge the abusive partner’s sense of control.
In the McKee case, the affidavit excerpts reported in the media highlight allegations spanning both the marriage and the years after the divorce. The threats quoted in those documents, if proven accurate, would be consistent with that broader pattern of ongoing control and intimidation. At this stage, however, they remain allegations that the defense has not yet fully answered in open court.
What Remains Unclear as the Case Proceeds
Even with the affidavit now unsealed, significant pieces of the case remain out of public view. The documents described in Fox News Digital’s reporting do not spell out what physical or forensic evidence investigators say connects McKee to the shooting itself, such as ballistics, fingerprints, digital data, or eyewitness identification.
The timeline between the reported surveillance of the property in early December and the killings at the end of the month also leaves unanswered questions. The affidavit places McKee at the couple’s home weeks earlier, allegedly while they were out of town. It does not make clear, in the publicly described portions, whether investigators believe the earlier visit involved planning, attempted intimidation, or something else entirely.
Nor is it clear from the available reporting what, if any, documented contact occurred between McKee and Monique in the days immediately before the shooting. The reference to Monique being upset about “something involving her ex-husband” on the night of the football game hints at unseen conversations or encounters. The affidavit excerpts reported do not fill those gaps.
As the case moves into pretrial hearings and, potentially, a trial, more of the underlying evidence will likely become public through motions, witness testimony, and exhibits. For now, the public record is anchored in a single narrative from investigators, a set of serious charges, and a defendant who has formally denied those accusations. Between those points lies the question a jury will eventually have to answer: exactly what happened inside that Columbus home, and how strongly can the evidence link it to the man now in custody.
